Former Director-General of the National Service Authority (NSA), Osei Assibey Antwi, and former Executive Director, Hon. Mustapha Ussif, have refuted allegations made in a report by the Fourth Estate.
According to them, the publication misrepresents the enrollment, verification, and payment processes of the NSA, leading to inaccurate conclusions about alleged financial mismanagement under their leadership.
In a jointly signed statement, the former officials accused the Fourth Estate of selectively omitting crucial information, distorting the facts, and misapprehending the intricacies of the NSA’s operations.
They emphasized that the claims regarding discrepancies in budgetary figures and alleged ghost names on the payroll were misleading.
“The publication claims that the figures submitted to parliament for budgetary purposes are significantly different from what is available to the public.
“Our checks reveal that the claim is palpably misleading as the Fourth Estate only relies on figures from the general posting done in September without including two (2) cohorts of Nursing trainees and one (1) cohort of Teacher Trainees.”
Osei Assibey Antwi and Hon. Mustapha Ussif
They further elaborated that the National Service Authority (NSA) administers multiple enrollment cycles beyond the general posting, working in partnership with the Nursing and Midwifery Council for nursing trainees and the Teachers Council for teacher trainees.
These additional cohorts significantly contribute to the overall enrollment figures, which may not be immediately reflected in the publicly available data.
As a result, they asserted that claims of budgetary discrepancies are misleading, as they fail to account for the full scope of service personnel captured in the system.
They emphasized that a thorough investigation would have revealed these essential details, contending that the Fourth Estate’s failure to acknowledge this broader context demonstrates a lack of due diligence in their reporting.
No Evidence of Ghost Names on Payroll
Another claim made in the publication was that the NSA payroll was padded with ghost names because funds allocated by Parliament exceeded the number of verified postings.
The former officials explained that personnel lists submitted to Parliament for budgeting purposes include all individuals posted by the NSA.
However, not every posted individual ends up on the payroll due to various factors, such as failing the verification process or declining their service placement.
“The payroll is thus only activated following stringent verification processes, and only personnel who pass the verification process are paid through the GhiPPS System, a Bank of Ghana subsidiary system.
“Even then, the payment is only made after monthly validations that confirm that personnel are at their respective postings. Any surplus sums after payments by GhiPPS are left in the Authority’s account for subsequent use”.
Osei Assibey Antwi and Hon. Mustapha Ussif
Accordingly, they maintained that the Fourth Estate’s publication is misleading, as it wrongly implies that any excess in parliamentary allocations over verified postings automatically translates to payments being made to nonexistent personnel.
The report also alleged that NSA records contained overaged individuals, foreign names, and incorrect ID numbers, concluding that such anomalies pointed to ghost names receiving salaries.
The former officials countered this argument, stating that initial enrollment data is provided by educational institutions and private applicants without prior vetting by the NSA.
According to them, errors in such raw data, including the issues flagged by the Fourth Estate, are common and are rectified during the verification process.
“…during the regional verification process, which all personnel are required to undergo in person, personnel provide identification information including Identification cards, facial biometric, and finger biometric data.
“This information is cross-referenced with the initial data submitted, and personnel with inconsistent information are categorized as banned or made to pend awaiting verification.”
Osei Assibey Antwi and Hon. Mustapha Ussif
As such, they pointed out that anyone failing this process remains in the system under a restricted category but is ineligible for payroll.
The images and names cited in the Fourth Estate report, according to the former officials, belong to individuals who were rejected at this verification stage and were never paid.
They further criticized the media outlet for relying solely on initial enrollment data without verifying the actual number of personnel who received payments from GhiPPS.
Such an oversight, they claimed, raises concerns about the intent behind the publication, which they believe was designed to create a misleading narrative.
Stronger Systems Implemented to Prevent Fraud
Furthermore, the former officials noted that during their tenure, the former NSA leadership introduced measures to enhance the enrollment and verification process, minimizing the likelihood of fraudulent entries.
One such initiative was the development of a centralized portal with unique access codes assigned to institutions, reducing the potential for data manipulation at the entry point.
They emphasized that the Fourth Estate’s publication exemplifies how misinterpretation of data and institutional processes can lead to misinformation and public deception.
“The publication by the Fourth Estate must, therefore, be treated with the contempt it deserves as it is a manifest example of how the misapprehension of data and institutional processes may result in conclusions that misinform and mislead the general public.”
Osei Assibey Antwi and Hon. Mustapha Ussif
Accordingly, they urged journalists to uphold professional standards by ensuring thorough investigations before publishing potentially damaging allegations.
The former officials also expressed confidence in the directive issued by former President John Mahama for an investigation into the allegations.
They believe that a thorough probe will vindicate their administration and expose the inaccuracies in the Fourth Estate report.
They reaffirmed their commitment to transparency and accountability, stating that any fair review of the NSA’s operations during their tenure would confirm their adherence to due process.
They concluded by calling on the media to prioritize accuracy over sensationalism and to engage in responsible reporting that serves the national interest.
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